Intel Core i7 Processor Hits 4.0GHz with Devil's Canyon

At Intel's keynote in Computex 2014 earlier today, Renee James, President of Intel, revealed the company's plan to release their latest overclocking friendly processors codenamed Devil's Canyon. The new Core i7-4790K processor will be Intel's fastest Core processor to date, with its base frequency set at 4.0GHz on all four cores. Based on the Haswell architecture, the 4th generation Core product will come with four cores and eight processing threads. The "K" suffix at the end of the product number indicates that the processor will have a fully unlocked multiplier for easy overclocking. processor for the latest Intel Z97 motherboards (and is backward compatible with Intel Z87 boards too).

Indeed, the processor can easily reach up to 4.4GHz under Turbo Boost conditions although that would only represent an overclock of a single core. However, with lots of cooling, we'll never know what new overclocked frequency records it can break.

In order to achieve the new clock speed, Intel improved the processor packaging using a next-generation polymer thermal interface material (NGPTIM) that gives them additional cooling headroom to meet the TDP of a 4GHz core. Apart from the new packaging material, additional capacitors at the back of the packaging were added to smoothen delivery of power to the die. As part of the Intel's current Haswell Refresh, the new Core i7-4790K will supersede the existing Core i7-4770K (a 3.5GHz part)as Intel's premium LGA1150 based processor. That's quite a speed bump for the newcomer.

As with all 4th generation Core processors, the new Core i7-4790K will support motherboards with the LGA1150 socket. This means that it should work in most current motherboards with the Intel 8 series chipset, provided that it's flashed with a supporting firmware. Intel also cautioned that since the new processor has higher TDP levels (88W), boards without the right power VRM may not support the new processor. But if you intend to purchase a new Intel 9 series motherboard, Devil's Canyon will most definitely be supported.

The pricing for 1K units of the new Core i7-4790K processor is set at US$339, which is the price of the current Core i7-4770K (3.5 GHz) processor. Along with this, Intel will also be releasing a faster Core i5 processor that will take the place of the Core i5-4670K as the fastest Core i5 product. The new Core i5-4690K will be clocked at 3.5 GHz and will cost US$242 for 1K units. Both of these new processors will ship in June 2014.